circumlocution
Example Sentences
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But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
“You’re now a beautiful, strong flower, who must protect your delicate petals and clean them regularly,” she adds, in one of the film’s more hilarious examples of motherly misunderstanding and circumlocution.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2022
So what’s with all the indirection and artful circumlocution and what-the-meaning-of-is-is tightrope walking?
From Salon ● May 30, 2019
It’s as if, for Ros, circumlocution and literature are essentially synonymous.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2013
He shuddered at his own craven circumlocution, using so meaningless a word to obscure so hideous a truth.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
But some are prone to ludicrous circumlocutions like “Johnny faces challenges in the lived experience of interactions with his peer group in educational spaces,” instead of “Johnny doesn’t get along with his classmates.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Their circumlocutions were as entrancing as their ability to find the most precisely ironic words for difficult-to-name realities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025
The story rushes forwards, with dizzying circumlocutions, from there.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 20, 2019
It extended even to matters of language: Although his English was fluent, he peppered it with French circumlocutions and grammatical constructions.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 16, 2016
She was weary of repetitions, weary of circumlocutions, weary of everything.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Vocabulary lists containing circumlocution
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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